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House Arbani
House Arbani holds the monopoly on Gem’s firewand production. In addition to outfitting Gem’s military, the Arbani equip mercenary companies, private armies and smaller states in the South. They also sell to private citizens. Discerning buyers across Creation recognize Arbani firewands as solid, dependable weapons. The Arbani keep the exact manufacturing process a family secret. Stories say it takes years of apprenticeship to master. The family also deals with firedust refinement, though an allied smaller house, House Petrox, holds the firedust mining monopoly in Gem. The Arbani typically buy both from the Petrox and from various desert tribes so that they do not become too dependent on any one supplier. House Arbani operates several subterranean factories where workers toil day and night to produce parts and refine raw firedust into usable ammunition. Most of their workers are slaves who learn only one task related to one part of the many that make up a firewand. One slave might forge firewand barrels while another cools them in a special solution and yet another etches decorative markings and house insignia on the barrel. Skilled artisans then assemble the parts into a functioning firewand, without knowing how the parts were made. Any slave caught trying to sell or reveal any part of the process can expect death. Given that one Arbani firewand sells for about the cost of the disloyal slave, the family sees this as a cost-effective way to protect trade secrets. Arbani house members or employees who try to undermine family operations are typically reassigned to less vital duties and cut off from family resources and secrets. If they don’t get the hint and lead very quiet, loyal lives, they disappear. This code of secrecy has enabled the Arbani to keep their arms-making process secret for generations. The house’s current head is Arbani Halan, a quiet, unassuming man in his late 60s. Halan is slender and darkskinned, with close-cropped graying hair, a neatly trimmed beard and a receding hairline. His smoky gray eyes gaze out calmly from under his bushy eyebrows. He once faced down a charging austrech without flinching and never seems intimidated and rarely impressed. Halan himself, however, is quite impressive. He is not only one of the best firewand makers in Creation, he is also one of the greatest mortal marksmen, a skilled hunter and a ruthless businessman. Every serious collector in the South envies Halan’s private collection of firewands, flame pieces and similar weapons. His collection of hunting trophies is equally impressive. Halan’s three sons are somewhat less exceptional than their father, all given to excessive whoring, gambling and small-time scheming. As Halan feels his years catching up to him, the old man considers looking for a proper heir in remoter branches of the family, or marrying a suitable young man to one of his daughters and clearing his way as heir by murdering his own sons. Halan holds off on this plan in hopes one of his sons will distinguish himself. Thus far, however, they outdo each other only in feats of debauchery.